We flew in late, as usual, were picked up by the Aunt and Uncle and out of the car park before the free 10 minutes were up. England is becoming more familiar to me, to the extent that when we got into the car, it didn't even register as odd that we were driving on the left-hand side.
Tuesday
Drove out to Flamborough Head, a chalky outcropping on the Yorkshire Coast. It features an old lighthouse and many grassy cliffs which seem to fall off the edges of themselves. We took a 4 mile amble, pausing to admire the sea stacks and nesting birds, and to rehydrate with fizzy drinks (a swift pint for the grown-ups).
After returning to Howden, we met up with various other family members for a very pleasant Indian meal. For some reason, they seated the foreigners (the American and the man from Birmingham) together at the end of the table. However, we managed to break the language barrier and pleasantly conversed.
Wednesday
This lazy day featured a trip around a 9th century Abbey and an attack by a somewhat reserved budgie.
Thursday
We headed to York in the hopes of finally seeing the inside of York Minster (my first visit, they were literally locking the doors as we walked up). On the way into the city, we walked along some of the remaining city walls, where we spotted an attractive tea room that whispered lunch. Inside the Minster, we decided to climb the tower, in hope of a view. 275 claustrophobic, narrow, spiral stairs later, the view did reveal itself. 360* of Yorkshire.
After all that exercise, lunch was necessary. We headed back to the tea room we'd spied earlier. Gray's Court was a historic house, at times belonging to various and prominent locals and the College and, more recently, privately owned and renovated as a tea room. We dined with the wasps on unpretentious sandwiches and (no surprise) tea.
Friday
Clumber Park was the meeting point with Katie's friend Anne. We picked up a 93-year-old relative and headed towards a picnic. Anne found her way to the party, and quickly kidnapped us and forced us to walk 5 miles around the lake by telling us it wasn't far. Clumber Park is in Sherwood Forest, legendary home of Robin Hood. Anne took us home and fed us Thai food.
Saturday
All beach towns are the same. Skegness is perhaps a little bit colder, and the North Sea perhaps a little less friendly than some, but it abounds with glitter and gold and glitz. From the slot-machines to the crazy golf to the boardwalk, you'd find this familiar if you'd ever been to, for example, Ocean City, MD.
7 miles down the road from Skeg lies Gibraltar Point, a nature reserve and lovely respite from all the plastic. We were taken for a short walk by Indy, Anne's excited yet hydrophobic dalmation, who had to be carried over a short bridge. Eventually Katie's parents met up with us and we took another walk, this time down to the extremely wide beach (the point is collecting sand and sediment and the beach is growing) to photograph the wind turbines in the water and collect sea glass.
Sunday
Spent the day in Grantham, walking the gardens and grounds of Belton House, where Pride and Prejudice was filmed. The grass is mowed by a herd of sheep, who leave their poop everywhere. However, the gardens are quite pleasant, if crowded by picnickers eager to appreciate the good weather.
Barbequed a vegetarian feast and finished the night watching the sprinters break world records.
Monday
Took the train to Chesterfield, where we met Helen, had tea and crisps, and ogled the crooked church spire. Local legend claims that Satan sat on it and bent it with his tail, or that a non-virgin walked the aisle and it recoiled in horror, but actually, the wood warped by getting wet and drying in an uneven way. This church, though of a similar period to York Minster, was a much different style, with darker stone brickwork, a less ornate pulpit, and more refined scale. Outside of the church we were ambushed by a chatty old lady keen to share her personal version of town history. As we headed towards a picnic slightly later, we were ambushed by a very pleasant gentleman keen on telling about his cricket club. We finished a pint of local strawberries on our picnic, and very shortly, Helen was driving us to the airport.
Obviously the plane was delayed 3 hours (East Midlands Airport is bad luck), but we managed to fall in the front door at just before 2am.
